Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of floor coverings, and more specifically floor coverings which are capable of detecting that a person has fallen.
Description of the Related Art
All developed countries are experiencing an increased ageing of their populations. This ageing can be seen in a very sharp increase of the number of people aged 60 and over. This situation creates a real challenge in the field of public health. It also creates serious problems in the management of the dependency of elderly people.
This is because elderly people are seeing their life expectancy increase every year. Furthermore, the development of social structures results in these people leading a more and more solitary existence, or living within specialised structures.
For people living alone, this isolation is an acute problem since they are at risk of dying of the consequences of a fall owing to an inability to call for assistance. In the case of specialised structures, the detection of falls is also very important, if it is desirable to avoid a very high number of care staff, with a very high cost for providing care, and cases of litigation regarding responsibility for lack of supervision.
The increasing awareness of these problems has resulted in studies being carried out which have shown that more than 7500 people die each year in France as a result of a fall which has not been detected in time, or from the consequences of a fall which has not been dealt with in a timely manner.
Currently, there is no device which provides a truly satisfactory solution for the detection of persons falling within their everyday environment.